When an executive chef and hotel general manager run off into the sunset with plans of their own, it's a bit like the dish running away with the spoon. I can't say how it worked out for the Century House in Latham, but for its former chef Mike Niccoli and his wife, Kim Baker, the result is Restaurant Navona. For that, New Scotland Avenue in Albany can breathe a sigh of relief.

Restaurant Navona hasn't so much filled the shoes of the Midtown Tap and Tea Room as absorbed it in its entirety. That foundation is more than metaphorical: Their purchase secured a rock-solid building properly renovated by previous owner Nancy Kupiec and her business. The rest comes from a year of magical thinking: naming Navona after a favorite Italian vacation, closing Sundays and Mondays as a quality-of-life decision for the whole veteran team. Navona opened this past New Year's Eve, but the team counts as "veteran," since chefs Eric Novak and Amy Krause worked with Niccoli for 11 years. Nobody mention The Century House.

Early reports of "rustic contemporary American" cuisine didn't jibe with menus I saw, where harissa, marinated olives, hummus and flatbreads read as Mediterranean, either in a nod to the couple's European travels or sudden acquisition of Kupiec's wine stock and native Greek wines. And all those references to fire-roasted vegetables prove Niccoli is embracing the hot-coals cooking of Argentinian chef Francis Mallman, using the new wood-fired stove for much more than pizza.

Navona's pizza is a beautiful thing: The dough recipe was a gift from a colleague at Schenectady County Community College, where Niccoli teaches whole-animal butchery, tweaked for the wood-fire heat. Pizzas come out soft and chewy with crusty, blistered edges and charred leopard spots. The house-pulled mozzarella has just the right moisture, so the dough doesn't sag, and toppings come in combos of four. It's true: On pizza, less is more.

Price ratings for inexpensive eateries based on average of entrée costs:

$: $9.95 and less

$$: $9.95-$15.95

$$$: $15.95 and higher

Fire-roasted eggplant pizza ($11) pops with the concentrated richness of tomato jam and tangy goat cheese cooling spicy harissa chile paste. True, harissa rather railroads the smoky eggplant and fennel, but it's an irresistible mix. If you need an excuse, justify it -as we did, as an appetizer between three.

Creamy ricotta surprises in The Puddle ($9), a four-cheese pie named after a favorite from Niccoli's Albany High days; Mr. Bill ($12) — topped with meatballs and fennel salami — immortalizes the nightly choice of a Century House bartender; and the sweet-peppery-tart flavors of Gorgonzola, arugula, fig and balsamic preserve ricochet in Baker's Pie ($10), named for Niccoli's wife.

The interior is unchanged, other than the authentic wood-fired oven and removal of partition furniture that hid the rear dining room. Furnishings fall into an inoffensive, versatile middle ground of mustard paint, padded chairs and new wood, though I like the use of contrasting plates, and there are plans to hang hip, local art. Regulars at the bar steal glances at the packed midweek tables, and we're all struck by the staff's eagerly familiar approach. Navona dresses as a hotel breakfast lobby but feels like a neighborhood pub.

It's Novak and Krause running the diminutive kitchen. Niccoli is down in the basement making pizza dough three times a day, putting up preserves or shaping pounds of pasta into little ribbed gnocchi or taglietelle ribbons.

Squidged into his tiny butter-slick caramelles (pasta "bonbons," $19), fire-sweetened squash zaps the bitterness of charred radicchio. It's brilliant and steals our hearts. That yin-yang is in other dishes: a smashing toasted cauliflower steak is underpinned by white herb ricotta smeared on a black plate ($18) and scattered with pine nuts, olive oil and soft baby lettuce. Such simplicity shines. Fire-kissed kale ($12) joins sausage, tomato and beans in a meaty broth so rich with gelatin it firms to a solid in the fridge overnight.

It turns out Krause is both chef and baker, so desserts are her domain. A gooey, sugar-dusted lemon bar, pastry base flaking wildly, is perfect; a firm coconut cream pie is beautifully undersweet with a little extra junk in the trunk.

If I'm going to grumble, it might be that the gorgeously grape-colored charred eggplant and black bean "hummus" with olives and flatbread ($11) is more the thick puree of a black bean dip, that scorched eggplant still waiting for a leading role; and steak and creamed potatoes arrive in a pool of blood; pink mash is an aesthetic problem for me. We happily polished off a light, dry Greek red (Lantzoi Augoustiatis, 2009), but — given Niccoli's standing with la Chaine de Rotisseurs and l'Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs — future wine plans will be fun to see.

There's something wonderfully orderly about Navona's start. There's nothing trendy here; the space is fine as is. And the lack of startup problems suggests the year of magical thinking paid off. The kitchen team is back together, Niccoli is enthusiastic about seasonal monthly menus and plans to cure meats on site, and he still finds time to collaborate with Brian Bowden, Mark Graham and Linda Kindlon on pop-up dinners under the moniker 3 Chefs and a Baker. Niccoli and Baker envisioned a "neighborhood restaurant, not fancy, but good." It's clear that's what they've got.

Dinner for three — including two appetizers, three entrees, one dessert and a bottle of wine — came to $150.30 with tax and tip.

Susie Davidson Powell is a freelancer writer from East Greenbush. Follow her on Twitter, @SusieDP. To comment on this review, visit the Table Hopping blog, blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping.